Body and Mind Blog

Meditation for Healthy Living

2011-06-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

Recent years we have seen an explosion of interest in meditation. Before beginning a meditation practice it is important to understand what meditation actually is. The word meditation is used in a variety of ways, so there is a good deal of confusion about what precisely meditation is and how to practice it. Meditation refers to a group of techniques, the goal of which is to enhance health and wellness through the quiet focusing attention and maintenance of an open mind.

Meditation is one of the oldest and most widely practiced mind–body therapies. Meditations in churches, temples, and mosques unite people in mind and spirit. Meditation helps release tension from your body. Meditation is also extremely effective in reducing stress and anxiety, and there is even research to suggest that it can be beneficial in combating heart disease.

There are many approaches to meditation. Some may appear to be simple and practical; others may seem otherworldly and impractical. There are two primary approaches to meditation: concentrative meditation and mindfulness meditation. Both gradually train you to focus your attention and mindfulness meditation.

In concentrative meditation, attention is given to a single focal point, such as an object, a thought, or one's own breathing. The other type of meditation is mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness meditation is a Buddhist technique taught as watching the breath rather than repeating a word or phrase.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for social anxiety

2011-06-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, is growing in popularity as an efficient and long lasting treatment for many different types of psychologocal problem. This is one of the most basic and most effective treatments for social anxiety. Cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety includes three main types of strategies: cognitive therapy, exposure to feared situations, and improving social skills.

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy emphasizes changing thoughts and beliefs. In cognitive therapy, a therapist helps you identify maladaptive thinking patterns and replace them with new ways of thinking. He or she also teaches you relaxation techniques and new behaviors that make you feel more comfortable in social situations.

Exposure to Feared Situations

During prolonged exposire, the individual learns that the feared situation is actually safe. Over time, exposire to feared situations reduces all aspects of the anxiety response - physiological arousal, the behavioral tendency to avoid, negative or catastrophic thoughts, and the unpleasant emotions that accompany these reactions.

Improving Social Skills

Social-skill training can give adolescents numerous opportunities to learn and practice a variety of techniques, including how to start a converstation, how to meet new people, how to join and leave a social group. and how to give and receive feedback.

Active lifestyle to boost your health

2011-06-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

The secret to maintaining good health and ageing slowly is exercise or staying active. And lack of physical activity is detrimental to good health. So by staying active you can make a big difference in your overall health. A physically active lifestyle offers incredible health benefits if participation is regular, preferably daily. Fortunately, almost anyone of any age can exercise, no matter where they live, how old they are, or what physical limitations they have.

Incorporating exercise into your day-to-day life may require a change in lifestyle, which is not always easy. Many people avoid exercise because they do not enjoy it, think it requires them to join an expensive health club, have little motivation to do it alone, or find it inconvenient and uncomfortable. So you should find an exercise you enjoy, setting aside a time that is realistic and convenient, and finding a place that is appropriate and safe are important steps in starting and maintaining en exercise program.

Riding your bike to class or work rather than driving, taking walk during your lunch break, and enjoying a game of catch or tag with your friends or family are all effective ways to increase your everyday activity level. The goal is to gradually make lifestyle changes that increase physical activity.

Why You Should Exercise Regularly

2011-06-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

Exercise is definitely essential to improve your health and the longetivity of life. All people have to do physical exercise for around 20 minutes of continuous exercise 3 times per week. Physical exercise can be walking, swimming, riding a bike, jogging or running. The principle is to make your heart to beat at least one hundred to ten beats per minute for 20 minutes. This could exercise your heart and lungs as well as promote healthy bones and muscles.

In addition to regular physical exercise you should do stretching exercises. A stretching program will help keep your joints healthier and avoid injury. I would recommend 3 stretching exercises before and after workout to prevent injury. The first is done by sitting on the floor with your legs spread apart. Move your head toward one of your knees when you feel stretching in your leg hold that position for a least one minute. After competion do the same to other knee. While your legs still spread apart move your head to the center towards the floor hold that position for one minute.

The second stretch put your legs together move your head towards your knees when you feel stretching hold that position for one minute. The third stretch is done by lying on your back on the floor. Raise one leg in the air keeping your knee straight. Place your hands behind your leg and pull your leg towards your head. Hold this position for one minute. In the same position bend your knee and pull your knee towards your chest hold that position for one minute. Do the same for the other leg and you have completed the recommended stretch for healthy fitness.

Remember the human body needs exercise for health. Healthy body translates to a healthy mind. To be powerful person you must exercise and be healthy.

The Placebo Effect

2011-06-07T11:24:00.001-07:00

You've probably heard of the placebo effect. The word placebo is derived from Latin and means "I shall please", and the phenomenon is called the placebo effect. The placebo effect is an example of the power our brain has over our physiological function. Today, the placebo effect is generally acknowledged as a component of all traditional and nontraditional treatments, and serious research efforts are under way to understand the mechanisms of the placebo effect.

Whether it's your faith in God or you belief in the healing power of biofeedback, some experts think that simply believing - or having fait - that something will work is sufficient to make the body to cure. The placebo phenomenon are likely to shows the effectiveness of so-called remedies that in fact are nothing but sugar pills or sham surgeries. The theory is when you think that a treatments will work, then it will, which shows once again the power of positive thought.

Although the curative powers of placebos are based on the recipient's belief in their power, that is not to say that the placebo is not real. The placebo effect is today seen as an important part of the healing process. It's been studied as a treatment for depression, chronic pain, Parkinson's disease, and more. In some persons or in particular settings, a placebo substance may have surprisingly powerful consequences.

How your mind can affect your body?

2011-06-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

There are two powerful ways how your mind (thoughts and feelings) can affect your body: they can affect your autonomic nervous system, and they can affect your hormones.

Your Nerves
Whenever you feel or think something, the human brain deliver messages to your body through your autonomic nervous system. A good example is when you thingk about food: your body responds as if what you are thinking about is real. For example, your saliva may be released in your mouth.

Hormones
Besides the autonomic nervous system, the mind can affect physiology via the endocrine (hormone) system. These are substances released by various parts of your body called glands. For example, when you get a fright, your body release hormones (adrenalin) that cause your body to produce the energy to run away or fight. Stress and worry cause your body to release a hormone called cartisol.

Conclusion
There is no wrong to feel angry or worried for a short period of time, for example for several days, or maybe a week or two. Once you stop feeling angry or upset your body returns to normal. But, when you worry for a very long time, such as worrying about your future and getting ill, this will cause your nervous system and hormones to get out of balance. Your body makes too much of some hormones or too little for others. So to get healthy body, you should have healthy mind too.

Anaerobic exercise

2011-06-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

Aerobic describes exercise that requires oxygen to produce the necessary energy to carry out the activity. Anaerobic describes exercise that does not require oxygen to produce the necessary energy to carry out the activity. Anaerobic exercise can be incorporated easily into aerobic exercise through the inclusion of brief bouts of higher-intensity exercise.

Anaerobic exercise involves short bursts of intense activity followed by periods of rest like all-out sprinting. Weight lifting is another typical example of anaerobic exercise. Everyone experiences anaerobic exercise when they run up a flight of stairs or to catch a bus.

The primary benefits of aerobic exercise are that it Improves the ability of the heart, while anaerobic exercises benefit your muscle groups, bones, and joints. With anaerobic exercise, the body works so hard it uses more oxygen than is immediately available. Anaerobic exercise is vital to maintain or even increase lean muscle mass. Anaerobic exercise tends to build more muscle, which increases metabolism.

Introduction to Stress Management

2011-05-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

Stress is a state of physical or mental tension resulting from factors that alter the body's equilibrium, or, in other words, stress is the body's reaction to either pleasant or unpleasant stimulation. Everyone experiences stressors daily, and everyone responds to them differently. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, two-thirds of office visits to family doctors are prompted by stress-related symptoms. Although many Americans report that stress has had some effect on their health, it is less likely to be reported by older adults (about a third) than younger adults (about half).

A variety of techniques to manage stress, improve coping, and reduce deleterious effects of stressors on physical and psychological health have been developed and tested. The most common techniques used in the western world are biofeedback, guided visual imagery, progessive muscle relaxation and transcendental meditation. You may already have read a lot about stress and stress management and maybe even tried some suggested ways to manage your stress.

Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness

2011-05-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

Shyness and social anxiety are universal. From time to time, almost everyone has felt nervous speaking in front of a group or anxious when interacting with another person. In extreme cases, social anxiety may prevent an individual from developing friendships, working, or even standing in a public place. More extreme social anxiety is considered a disorder called social phobia or social anxiety disorder.

If you're a person with social anxiety, you may very well feel at a loss as to where to turn for help. Fortunately social anxiety is a condition that can change. As social anxiety is reduced to a manageable level, shyness also becomes less troublesome.

You need to do three things to overcome your social anxiety:
1) Understand your anxiety pattern.
2) Change your thinking in anxiety-provoking situations.
3) Change your anxious behaviors.

Social phobia or social anxiety

2011-05-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

Social phobia is the most common anxiety disorder in the United States. Social phobia is also known as social anxiety disorder. Social phobias affect about 15 million adults in the United States. In social phobia, the person becomes severely anxious to the point of panic or incapacitation when confronting situations involving people. The most common social phobia is fear of public speaking.

Social anxiety disorder is characterized by fears of embarrassment, humiliation, criticism, or scrutiny in any of a number of social and performance situation. In addition, fears can be so extreme in people with social anxiety disorder that physical symptoms develop, including blushing, sweating, tremulousness, and palpitations. Because of the expectation and fear of experiencing humiliation, those with social phobia withdraw and avoid social situations whenever possible.

Extreme social anxiety may lead to impaired concentration, which, in turn, can cause a person to make more errors at work or school. For this reason, social phobia is associated with lower educational attainment, lost work productivity, lack of career advancement, higher rates of financial dependency, and severe impairment in social functioning.

What is a phobia?

2011-05-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

Do you or someone you know have a specific phobia? The phobia is always there under the surface of your mind, and the smallest hint of it causes you to react in unexplainable ways. Phobias, or unreasonable fears, have been described for many centuries. A phobia, from the Greek meaning to fear or dread something, is a persistent abnormal response to particular situations, stimuli or persons. Phobias are called irrational fears because most people are not afraid of these situations or events. Actually a person with a phobia almost always knows that the fear is irrational and illogical, yet is unable to control the feelings of anxiety even when thinking about the feared object or situation.

Phobias are the most common form of anxiety disorders. Many people have minor phobias that may cause them some distress but do not stop them from leading normal, everyday lives. A person with a phobia will go to great lengths to avoid the object of fear. Remember that fears and phobias are all products of the mind.

Phobias often are triggered in childhood by a frightening event that may or may not be consciously remembered. A specific phobia usually resolves spontaneously as the child matures. But when the fear greatly disturbs a person and interferes with his or her life, they need professional help.

Weight Control for Your Life

2011-05-13T05:33:00.000-07:00

Weight control is commonly described as methods to maintaining weight in the healthy range of body mass index. Weight control is essential for anti-aging, for wellbeing and for being resist against diseases and disorders because, too much body fat and its degradation products are always responsible for many important metabolic diseases and disorders such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and disorders.

There are no lasting fast-track solutions to weight control. Safe weight-loss practices include modest changes in food intake accompanied by gradual increases in aerobic activity. Weight control can't be achieved without some fundamental change in lifestyle. It doesn't mean you have to give up anything you like but it does mean some of the things you like may need to be done in moderation and some additional changes will probably need to be integrated into your daily activities. If you want to lose weight, you should consider consult your physician or other weight-control expert.

The Power of Optimism

2011-05-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

Optimism is a belief in and expectation of positive results, even in the face of challenges, problem, or crisis. Optimism is often confused with positive thinking. Research has found that being optimistic is an important element of emotional intelligence and leadership. People use the terms interchangeably, but, they're not the same; all positive thinkers are optimistic, but not all optimists are positive thinkers!

Being optimist sounds simple: Just believe that your actions will result in good outcomes. But it is not always easy to adopt this mindset. We encounter situations where we feel discouraged and hopeless or pessimistic, that bad things will happen, no matter what we do.

The advantage of being optimist is that such people have expectation of better future. People who are optimist treat various events of life in a more positive manner. They do not find fault with the situation in which they are placed, rather they enjoy life as it folds before them. Optimists worry less and try to enjoy small things and pleasures encompassing their life. They socialize more and feel less burnout inside.

Your Mind Can Create Illness or Wellness

2011-05-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

Generally speaking, most of us tend to think of our bodies and minds as separate system and believe they function, for the most part, independently. Actually the body-mind connection is a two-way street. Out thoughts and feelings can alter physiological processes, it's means that individuals have the power to influence their health for ill or for well-being.

All feelings create physiologic change. Skin, heart rate, digestion, muscle energy levels, joints, the hair on your head, and endless cells and systems on your body can change with every emotion. So you can improve your physical well-being by maintaining a positive outlook, but you can also improve your outlook by tending yo your physical well-being.

The role of the mind in creating illness has been increasingly appreciated as psychosomatic disorders. If you are feeling down, it more important than ever to eat well, exercise regularly, enjoy recreational or social activities, and get plenty of rest.

The benefits of aerobic exercise

2011-05-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

Aerobic fitness is synonymous with endurance or stamina. Aerobic exercise is exercise that can be sustained for more than a few minutes, uses major groups of muscles, and gets your heart to pump faster during the exercise. Running, swimming, cycling, cross-country skiing, rhytmic dancing, and walking are examples of aerobic activities.

Each different form of exercise has different effects on the body and exerts different benefits. The benefits of aerobic exercise are immeasurable. Aerobic activities are great for burning calories and paring down unwanted fat. It also provides significant other health and cardiovascular benefits.

Regular aerobic exercise has been shown to increase the oxygen carrying capacity of our bodies as well as to strengthen our hearts to work more efficiently as they supply more and more oxygen- rich blood to our working muscles. With aerobic exercise, your heart will get stronger and your resting heart rate will decrease. So this type of exercise is a very important health measure. To get the benefits of aerobic exercise you will actually need to get out and do something, not just read about it.

Exercise Your Body For a Healthy Mind

2011-04-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

The mind and body are one. We all know that exercise helps keep the body healthy, but we tend to underestimate how much exercise helps the mind. Just as you need to exercise your mind to keep the neurons firing well and your mental processes sharp, exercising your body will also keep your mind healthy. Not only does a healthy body lead to a healthy mind, but the process works in reverse too, with mental and emotional health inevitably making you feel better physically. Without exercise, we would look and feel awful.

The main reason exercise helps suppress stress and, at a later stage, depression, is due to the so-called endorphins being produced during the effort. Regular exercise stimulates endorphin production and also tones up your whole body. Regular activity such as playing a sport you enjoy will take your mind off your worries, and ensure a constant supply of endorphins, the body's feel-good hormones. In order to keep fit, you should do 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise at least five days a week.

Age-old methods of mind-body medicine

2011-04-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in a mild or gentle form of exercise, you may have found it with Tai Chi. Tai chi is one of the oldest methods of mind-body medicine long known to positively affect the mind and body of the practitioner. This ancient Chinese discipline is a perfect example of mind- body exercise, symbolizes mental and physical coordination. With the mind you direct the energy, and with the energy you direct the body.

Tai Chi combines movement, deep breathing, and meditation, is appropriate for all ages, and can be adapted to all fitness levels. The practice of Tai Chi has many purposes. For at least six hundred years, it has been a meditional form, a health practice, and part of martial arts. will develop the individual into a more balanced person. Enabling them to appreciate themselves, others and the world we live in to a much greater degree.

What You Should Know About Hatha Yoga

2011-04-21T06:29:00.000-07:00

A healthy mind requires a healthy body. This is where Hatha Yoga comes in. Hatha attempts to balance body and mind and to bring the ultimate goal of all Yoga branches — enlightenment — to fruition through disciplining the body.

Hatha yoga is undoubtedly the most well known, popular, and frequently practiced style of yoga in the West. Hatha yoga is a purificatory process of cleansing and toning the body and mind.

Hatha yoga means literally the "forceful yoga." As its name implies, this approach to yoga emphasizes the vitality and life force of the physical body. Hatha Yoga has undergone many transformations over the past decades. These practices not only strengthen the body through the force of exercies, they can also help you to expand your own personal force, or store of energy, through their vitalizing effects. Hatha yoga also includes practices that cleanse the body of accumulated toxins and waste products.

Improved Health in Body and Mind with Yoga

2011-04-19T05:42:00.000-07:00

Yoga is the perfect tool in which to develop a healthy mind and a healthy body. The word "yoga" comes from the Sanskrit, meaning to yoke or discipline, to unite, to make whole. Because true health involves body, mind and spirit, yoga incorporates physiological, psychological and spiritual processes. Yoga is a course of exercises and postures intended to promote control of the body and mind and to attain physical and spiritual well-being.

All types of yoga, whether it is Karma yoga, Bhakti yoga, Gyan yoga, Hatha yoga, all provide the technique to unite the body with the mind. Of the several kinds of yoga, the most common is hatha yoga, which uses body postures, called poses or asanas, breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation to bring the body, mind, and spirit into healthy harmony.

Disclosure Policy

2011-04-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

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The causes of stress

2011-03-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

Stress can be defined as feeling tense, overwhelmed, or under pressure. Almost everybody has suffered some kind of stress, and many people experience chronic stress, or constant, regular stress, every day of their lives. Finding out the causes of stress and learning some methods for working with it may help you control the stress in your lives.

There are many factors that can cause you to be become too uptight and not allow you play your best. Stress can flow from cataclysmic events with natural or human causes, change in an individual's life history, and ongoing hassles of daily life.

Some people handle stress pretty well, even when it is extreme. There are many things you can do to reduce stress, such as:

Take care of your body
Practice relaxing every day
Improve your diet and nutrition
Manage your time to avoid rushing and pressure
Talk with someone you trust
Set reasonable goals
Don't use drugs or alcohol
Learn assertiveness and other communication skills